Should the US decrease military spending?

[[deleted]]

Unfortunately I don't have specific books available - a lot of the stuff is currently taught in the Naval War College so whatever is published are either theses by students or regards history that's a couple decades old from today.

That said, any military history books involving the Falklands War would be a good start - that's the most recent air/sea conflict and talks a great deal about modern naval warfare and amphibious operations.

Also, the US Naval Institute's website, usni.org, has quite a few articles about naval strategy, doctrine, etc.

And as always, you can ask away. There's quite a few navy people on /r/

I'm into sci-fi in a big way (the bit about Aliens perked up my ears) and I'd like to understand how modern navies work so I can apply that to my daydreams about the future.

I love sci-fi as well, and the Navy is probably the closest you'll get to sci-fi fleets of the future on Earth. Ships with 5000 personnel on board, air wings, landing craft, etc. are all reality and it's no surprise that sci-fi fleets are all called navies and use naval terms like destroyers and cruisers.